Elaine Nichols Hansen

Elaine was born on May 24, 1935, in the Blackfoot, Idaho home of her Aunt Fern and Uncle Dean McClellan. She was born to loving parents Alvin Clarence (A.C., or “Nick”) Nichols, and Leah Nichols. A.C. and Leah raised four children, variously in Salmon, Boise, and Idaho Falls, Idaho.

In their youth, Elaine and her older brother George, visited their grandpa, Alvin Raymond (Ray) Nichols. Ray was a sheepherder and lived in a horse-drawn camp wagon west of Idaho Falls. Ray moved with the herd as they grazed. Mother, as Elaine referred to Leah through her final hours of life, provided young George and Elaine with home-made goods to take to Grandpa Ray on those visits.

On a particular Christmas Eve, during one of those visits, a blizzard set in. During that stay, Elaine and George heard the whimpering of a pup. Grandpa Ray produced the tiny pup - a collie, to the kids. They named him Ranger. A great sheep dog - Ranger was the family’s best friend and protector for years. Ranger, and Grandpa Ray’s gelding, Omaha, became fast friends. Not long after that, the family moved to Salmon, Idaho, with Ranger, Grandpa Ray, and Omaha, in tow.

A.C. and Leah’s young family then moved to Boise during the War. A.C. worked in transportation for the Department of Defense. Through the War years, the family had limited income, and they were limited to rations; a common feature of the national war effort. Elaine kept two of those rations booklets as keepsakes for years thereafter, as a reminder of the sacrifices her parents made, along with millions of others.

Elaine was a tomboy. She loved to play baseball with her brother George, and of course, George’s friends. She was hard on shoes, which became a persistent draw on the family’s rations booklet. The baseball field was adjacent to her home, and was the Sandlot to her and her friends.

Though the field was close by, Elaine wanted to range further. So, she asked for a bicycle for Christmas. That was no small matter, as rubber and metal were commodities in hot demand because of the War. On Christmas morning, she was elated when she saw the bicycle by the Christmas Tree. Elaine relayed this story to her children and grandchildren well into her 90th year. Sacrifice during a period of national recovery and a national war effort made a lasting impression on Elaine. In Elaine’s words: “Tons of years later, when I asked Dad how Santa managed to get me that bicycle for Christmas, he said that one of his friends owned a bicycle shop and arranged it to repay Dad for helping him out in the past.”

At age eight Elaine was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. As a young girl, Elaine loved going to church. She had a “warm, happy feeling and felt very blessed to have the freedom to go to Church. Having lived during World War II, I have always cherished the hard-won freedoms - grateful to worship as I see fit.”

At the end of the War, the family had grown by one, with younger brother Dennis, born in 1943. The family returned to Salmon, Idaho. There, the family bought a Jeep. The Jeep featured a rumble seat that was nothing more than a strip of metal across the rear axle.

For those that know Elaine, her life story would be comically incomplete if her love of music was not addressed. For as long as she could remember, Elaine wanted to play the piano. In their small rental home in Salmon, there was a piano. Over two months, Elaine took piano lessons from a sweet, elderly lady. Elaine was as happy as one could imagine, until the owners of the home came to take their piano. Undeterred, and in the absence of the piano, Elaine propped her Mother’s 1909 LDS hymn book on a window sill, and played the window sill. Decades later, her children may have played air guitar to Classic Rock. But Elaine was at the vanguard with the windowsill piano. Of course, Elaine never hit a bad note on the sill. A.C. and Leah worked hard, and presented Elaine with a piano not long after. Elaine’s piano-playing continued for the next 70-plus years.

In 1945, Elaine (and the rest of the family) received the blessing of a baby sister and daughter - Lois. Lois and Elaine, separated by 10 years, were the best of friends. During the years immediately following the war, the family moved to Tower Creek, just north of Salmon. Elaine and her siblings fetched water, avoided rambunctious stallions (under the aegis of Ranger, the ever-vigilant sheepdog), and lived childhoods that rivaled storybook adventures. These years included travel to visit family and friends in Missouri, Texas, and Colorado.

In 1953, Elaine left Idaho for BYU. Some of her dearest friends at BYU also were expats from Salmon, Idaho (several of whom were fellow rafters with Elaine on the Salmon River). In the midst of her Freshman year, Elaine met Jim Hansen. They were in the same stake, and Jim (having dated two previous Elaines) clearly “had a type.” Jim and Elaine attended fireside at the home of one Stella Oaks, a widow. She was a gifted Sunday School teacher, who kept the young students spellbound. Elaine worked the keys of Stella’s “great old piano” during those firesides, playing hymns at the opening of Stella’s fireside lessons. Stella’s son is President Dallin H. Oaks.

Perhaps those firesides lit the fire between Jim and Elaine. Over the next couple of semesters, and into 1955, Jim and Elaine dated. They then married on August 25, 1955, in the Idaho Falls Temple. They returned to Provo, to attend and finish school, and to begin their own family.

Jim and Elaine had a baby daughter, born in 1956. Pamela Jo Hansen. Following graduation, the family moved to Riverside, California, where Jim and Elaine both worked in various jobs while Jim was in graduate school. The family continued to grow with the birth of Marci in1958. Care for the two young girls was split between Jim and Elaine based on their respective work schedules. Elaine grew close to Jim’s extended family, who in fact raised Jim after his parents had passed during his teenage years. Ralph and Venice Pratt, of Riverside, were major, loving figures in the lives of this young family.

In 1960, the family moved to Salt Lake City. Elaine was an active mother involved with the PTA, Church activities, and the lives of her two daughters. As president of the PTA, she played a key role in lobbying for and facilitating the installation of a traffic light in front of the school. Soon after, the family again grew with the birth of a baby boy, Scott Hansen, in 1969. In 1971, Elaine delivered a beautiful baby girl, Mindi. This baby sister rounded out the Hansen family.

Elaine was an energetic mother with a boundless enthusiasm for music, for the church, and for her family. Elaine was a dedicated organist for her home ward, and accompanied countless other artists in their performances. Elaine played the piano and the organ with a flair reflective of her outlook on life. Though she was too young to have lived during the Ragtime era of American music, its influence was clear in so many of her performances.

A reflection of that flair was an additional Elaine superpower: her keen sense of humor. Once triggered, her capacity for laughter at a quip or good joke was gigantic, and self-sustaining. The comic sensibilities of every member of the Hansen family were shaped (for better or worse) by the hair-trigger and deep-seated laughter of Elaine.

Elaine was a strong, spirited mother and friend. She loved her family, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She loved music. She loved her friends. She became an earnest and fervent sports fan, born of her kids’ participation in athletics. She followed the Utah Jazz, as well as the local college football scene. She was at every recital, sporting event, or performance involving any of her kids. Indeed, she was a dedicated Aunt and Grandmother, who appeared at her grandkids’, as well as her nieces’ and nephews’, performances. She loved her neighborhood and Church community. Elaine loved life, and her involvement with her family both near and far reflected this. And, fundamentally, she loved the Lord.

Elaine’s spirit, her being, centered on compassion and empathy. But those who really knew Elaine were wise never to confuse her kindness, her empathy, her compassion, for weakness. Elaine was a fierce and persistent soul. Those qualities carried her through illness, loss of friends who passed away, financial challenges, and the vicissitudes of life, all the way to her peaceful final hours.

Elaine is preceded in death by her husband, Jim Pratt Hansen, her father, A.C. Nichols, mother, Leah Nichols, and older brother and sister-in-law, George and Ann Nichols, and her dear son-in-law, Mark Tippins. She is survived by her brother Dennis Nichols (Glenna), and sister Lois. She also is survived by her four children, Pam Hansen (Kirk Ruhnke), Marci Healy, Scott Hansen (Ingrid) and Mindi Tippins. Elaine is also survived by her grandchildren, Stephanie Almanza (Vincent), Matthew Wood (Lindsay), Tyler Wood (Caroline), Lauren Ruhnke (Brian), Alexander Ruhnke (Ashley), Jacob Ruhnke, Marcus Morrow, Christian Hansen (Camilla), Erika Hoercherl (SJ), Chandler Tippins, Niklas Hansen, Mia Hansen, and Noah Tippins. Elaine is survived by her great grandchildren Austin Conrad, Gabe Almanza, Sebastian Almanza, Abigail Elaine Almanza, Sophia Wood, Severian Adams, Ender Adams, Katalina Adams, as well as recently arrived Bethany Clara Hoercherl.

The family is grateful for the tremendous care and love shown by Elaine’s friends, as well as the incredible staff at St. Joseph’s Villa and Bristol Hospice.

On Wednesday, October 28, at 11:00 a.m., a funeral service will be held for Elaine at the Wasatch 4th Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints, 2215 East Roosevelt Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108.

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